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Old 03-22-19, 07:25 PM   #4
philb
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Oklahoma City
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If you have metal fabrication skills, then go for it. I'm building one now. I plan to do a write up sometime in the fall.
I would suggest using supplied air or a large fan when cutting, welding or grinding on any shipping container because the paint and primer is zinc laden epoxy.

Here is a short rundown on its construction I posted elsewhere,

Basically, there are three containers bolted and welded to each other. It sits on top of a 2 foot tall stem wall where the rebar in the wall is welded to the containers. There are several unattached columns underneath the structure to take the bounce out of the floors.

The EPScrete wall insulation is one foot thick in most locations. It was poured on the outside of the container and tamped from the roof. The form to contain the insulation is made from diamond stucco wire mesh wired to cattle panels. The EPScrete is fireproof with a consertive estimate of R2 per inch. A layer of stucco is plastered on the walls outside the crete.

The roof has 2 feet of epscrete on one side and slopes to one foot on the opposite side which gives it a 1/2" to 1 ft. slope. There was a 27 degree F difference between insulated and not insulated this summer.

The roof also sports 7 ten inch skylights. They deserve a post themselves. When the next tornado blows through town, they will blow out to equalize the pressure using a sabot. That was difficult for my little pea brain to calculate!

The entire 1000 square foot house weighs in today at 200,000 pounds. And it still needs hydronically heated floors! It only needed 85,000 pounds to take a 300 mile per hour tornado wind.

So far, 95% of the power is solar. 1880 watts on the roof. I can run my electric mortar mixer all day long and the fridge and freezer 24/7. That beats running the generator at a gallon per hour.

I'll be glad to answer any questions but it may take a little while since I don't got to get to the site often enough.
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